New Orleans Jazz Fest 2012 lineup shows producer Quint Davis is on top of his ... - (I'm so happy)

New Orleans Jazz Fest 2012 lineup shows producer Quint Davis is on top of his ...

Remember when Santana, the Allman Brothers, Bonnie Raitt, Van Morrison, Jimmy Buffett and B.B. King seemed to be in permanent rotation as the New Orleans Jazz Fest's main stage headliners? All worthy artists, certainly. All deserving of their formidable reputations as live performers. All responsible for many memorable moments at Jazz Fest.

But there's a whole lot more out there.

The roster of the 2012 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented by Shell confirms that the fest's producers have embraced that notion.

The three most prominent names on the bill -- the Eagles, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and the Foo Fighters -- are Fair Grounds first-timers.

These new faces aren't necessarily new. Petty is 61. The Eagles' Don Henley is 64. But both front storied American rock bands that still fill arenas with songs that will populate rock radio as long as rock radio exists.

More telling is the diverse, second tier of Jazz Fest's "visiting" artists: Jill Scott. My Morning Jacket. Florence + the Machine. Bon Iver. Janelle Monae. Feist (she of the ubiquitous "1-2-3-4" iPod commercial). Grace Potter & the Nocturnals. The Zac Brown Band. Ne-Yo. Iron and Wine.

Ten, or even five, years ago, these names meant nothing to most music fans. Now they are more than deserving of a place at the table.

Their inclusion is indicative of the evolution of the Jazz Fest in general and Quint Davis, its producer/director, in particular.

Quint Davis was a Tulane University student when George Wein, the legendary founder of the Newport Jazz Festival was enlisted by New Orleans civic leaders to create the New Orleans Jazz Fest. Wein hired Davis to round up artists for that first, humble gathering in what is now Armstrong Park in 1970. Davis gradually assumed more and more responsibility.

For many years now, he's been the festival's public face and prime mover. His immersion in indigenous music from New Orleans and beyond, coupled with his business acumen, enabled the fest to thrive and grow. The Jazz Fest's personality is largely a reflection of his own.

But after decades on the job, complacency crept in. By the early 2000s, the fest clearly was in need of new energy. Nearly being fired in 2004 by the nonprofit foundation that owns Jazz Fest proved to be Davis' wake-up call.

The upshot of that drama was that his Festival Productions Inc.-New Orleans was compelled to partner with AEG Live, the international live entertainment conglomerate.

With AEG's backing, Jazz Fest stepped up its game. A succession of previously unobtainable, high-profile acts have since cycled through the Fair Grounds: Billy Joel. Bruce Springsteen. Pearl Jam. Bon Jovi. Rod Stewart. Tim McGraw. Simon & Garfunkel. Brad Paisley. John Mellencamp. Lauryn Hill.

Several staffers in the local and Los Angeles offices of Festival Productions select and book bands for Jazz Fest. But in recent years, Davis has taken on the task of choosing most Acura and Gentilly stage headliners himself.

"I'm doing a lot more of the booking, more than I ever have," Davis said this week. "It's something I never did, something that I never thought I would or should do."

Davis does not operate in a vacuum. These days, he is reportedly more open to suggestions from younger members of his staff, including his "consigliere," David Foster, Festival Production's new media guru. And YouTube, Davis notes, has made educating himself about what's out there much easier.

He also consults extensively with executives at AEG Live. It is AEG's business to know which acts are rising, which are waning, how many tickets they are selling, how much they are grossing and how much they should be paid.

Davis ultimately selects Jazz Fest headliners -- pending approval of the multimillion dollar talent budget by the fest's owners, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation -- but AEG is an invaluable resource.

"AEG," Davis said, "is there for us 110 percent."

It was Larry Vallon, AEG's senior vice president for national booking, who introduced Davis to ethereal indie-folk act Bon Iver, aka Wisconsin-based singer-songwriter Justin Vernon.

Bon Iver is on the brink of a breakthrough, Vallon told Davis months ago. You should consider the band for Jazz Fest.

Sure enough, Bon Iver's self-titled second album debuted at No. 2 on the national charts in June. When nominations for the 54th Grammy Awards were announced in November, Bon Iver received four, including song and record of the year and best new artist.

Come spring, Bon Iver will be at Jazz Fest.

AEG does not just anticipate up-and-coming artists. The company also facilitates Jazz Fest's pursuit of some of the biggest bands in the world.

Vallon's working relationship with Tony Dimitriades, Petty's longtime manager, did not hurt Davis' campaign to finally bring the Heartbreakers to Jazz Fest.

"That's a big help to us," Davis said, "to have people who know people."

Booking bands is not as straightforward as ordering an entrée off a menu. Many variables come into play. Will the artist be on tour at Jazz Fest time? Is the tour's routing conducive to a New Orleans stop? Is the artist interested, available and affordable? (Paul McCartney? Not affordable. Rolling Stones? Neither affordable nor available. Eric Clapton? Maybe one day...)

Meeting these criteria is still not enough. Enticing top-tier acts who are unfamiliar with Jazz Fest is a painstaking process; the courtship may stretch months or years. Diligent managers and agents want to know exactly what they are committing their clients to.

"They're very thorough," Davis said. "Very exact, very detail-oriented. They all are at that level. It goes through many twists and turns. It's on, it's off. On, off."

Before Bruce Springsteen agreed to perform in 2006, his advance team visited the Fair Grounds to determine exactly what The Boss would see when he gazed out from the stage.

Before Petty confirmed, Jazz Fest staffers sent his management team aerial photos of the Fair Grounds site. Dimitriades was surprised to learn Jazz Fest closes at 7 p.m. That Petty would be performing in daylight was not necessarily a deal-breaker, but information he needed to know before making a decision.

The Eagles nearly agreed to perform at the 2011 Jazz Fest. Having been through the familiarization process once, Davis had a head-start for next year.

One major obstacle: The Eagles had no plans to be on tour in the spring of 2012.

But the four principal musicians, and their manager, Irving Azoff, still wanted to play the festival. And because Jazz Fest is a festival, the band didn't need to assemble its own production -- the stage, lights and sound system would already be in place. All the Eagles would have to do is show up, plug in and play.

(However, they may want to reconsider the matching suits they wore at the New Orleans Arena in 2009, and opt for more heat-resistant stage attire.)

The Foo Fighters initially planned to build a brief tour around Jazz Fest. Normally an act of that stature and price would headline the Acura Stage on one of the two Saturdays, the fest's best-attended days.

But when the Foo Fighters' reps reached out to Jazz Fest, Petty was already confirmed to close the Acura Stage on April 28 and the Eagles were slotted for May 5. In order to participate, the Foo Fighters would have to work around that reality.

They agreed. Then they scrapped their spring tour, but still wanted to play Jazz Fest. Make us an offer, their agent told Davis.

Davis made an offer. The Foos accepted.

And Jazz Fest had another new face.

The Festival Productions team tries to have all major acts confirmed before the release of the fest's talent roster. But even announcing certain artists' participation can be complicated.

The 2012 schedule unveiled Tuesday night contained two prominent TBAs. Those "to be announced" acts were confirmed, but wanted to make their own proclamations about upcoming plans. On Friday, the vibrations were finally good enough for one of those acts to step up: The Beach Boys, reunited with keyboardist and primary songwriter Brian Wilson, will kick off their 50th anniversary tour April 27 at Jazz Fest.

The other TBA likely won't announce his plans until January. So the festival accommodated him, in the interest of building a better overall show.

The drive to invest that show with fresh talent hit its stride in 2011, Davis believes. Seven months ago, Jazz Fest presented the likes of Arcade Fire, Mumford & Sons and My Morning Jacket, the Kentucky rock band that has embarked on a fruitful collaboration with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. My Morning Jacket, returning to the Fair Grounds in 2012, is now "part of the family," Davis said.

Those sorts of acts also populate the Austin City Limits Festival, Chicago's Lollapalooza, Tennessee's Bonnaroo and Southern California's Coachella. What sets Jazz Fest apart is its preponderance of local talent.

But the "visiting artists" are what get people talking and entice new fans. Such longtime Jazz Fest veterans as Bonnie Raitt will likely always be part of the mix, but no longer carry the day.

In the not-too-distant past, B.B. King headlined the Acura Stage. His most recent Jazz Fest appearance, in 2010, was in the much smaller Blues Tent.

King wasn't demoted -- the whole of Jazz Fest was promoted. Jazz Fest now plays in the here-and-now big leagues.

And there's no turning back.

Keith Spera can be reached at kspera@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3470. Follow him at twitter.com/KeithSperaTP.